Yet another contest win for your lovable Rats. After a silver medal in the March contest the Rats returned to winning ways in September 2023. The best site, the best gear, the best food and wine, and the best contest group around!
The Drowned Rats were out in the field for the 2m Trophy contest last weekend from JO01JA in Kent. Good weather, a first class station and fun with friends, throw in a hot-tub and a few cold beers for good measure and what more can you ask for! Radio: Anan-100 Transverter: Khune DB6NT (14MHz IF)… Continue reading G2D: 2m Trophy Contest – September 2022 by Carl (M0ICR)
A Personal Memory of Dave G8LZE. (1952-2021) Chris G4CLB I knew Dave for 45 years; well over half of my lifetime. That’s a fact I find hard to believe but it was in 1976 I heard him calling /M, lost in Slough and requesting directions from any listening local. So, in I jumped.… Continue reading Remembering Founder Rat Dave G8LZE
Amateur radio has a vast choice of modes and operations, so how did I end up contesting. I started in radio, as many do, on CB back in 1978 then progressed through to working DX on SSB which was the first catalyst toward contesting. I took the RAE in 1991 and like many other newly… Continue reading Why do I Contest? by Dave M0SAT
After far too long a time the Rats were in action again in early September at Lydd for the RSGB 2m trophy. Accomodation was the new wooden chalet complete with hot tub! We made over 500 QSOs and achieved a 3rd place podium position in the Open category. 2m RSGB Trophy 2021 results Here’s a… Continue reading September 2m RSGB Trophy
www.rsgb.org/propquest – FoF2 critical frequency and extrapolated MUFs www.rsgb.org/predtest – ITURHFPROP-powered predictions (G4FKH) www.rsgb.org/proppy – ITURHFPROP-powered predictions (HZ1JW) www.rsgb.org/voacap – VOACAP-powered predictions (OH6BG) www.rsgb.org/g0kya – At-a-glance hourly VOACAP predictions (G0KYA) www.predtest.uk – Predtest ITURHFPROP predictions soundbytes.asia/proppy/ – Proppy ITURHFPROP predictions www.voacap.com – VOACAP Online
Icom has released new firmware updates for the popular 7300 and 9700 rigs taking the revision level for the 7300 to 1.40 and the 9700 1.30. The software can be found on the Icom Japan site: Icom 7300 Firmware for the 7300 and Icom 9700 Firmware for the 9700. The PDF change notes for the… Continue reading Icom Firmware Updates for 7300 and 9700
On the Rat’s internal MatterMost chat site we were talking about how the new Icom 705 portable rig would perform transmit-wise on 2/70 compared with a couple of recent rigs which have come in for some criticism in this respect. Carl ICR got busy and put together some graphs based on published QST reviews. Below… Continue reading Rig Phase Noise Transmit Measurements
G3RAT displays a propagation widget in its sidebar from https://www.hamqsl.com/solar.html which show some useful propagation data in a minimal format. For more in depth data and analysis of solar data you may find these sites to be of interest: https://www.solarham.com/ https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast http://www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/education/current_activity.html https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/planetary-k-index http://www.solen.info/solar/ https://www.spaceweather.gc.ca/forecast-prevision/short-court/sfst-2-en.php For specific hf propagation between two sites here are some… Continue reading Propagation Resources
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